Town of Bovec and Soca Valley – Sept. 27-30
By Leyla
After our walk, we set out for our next destination, the Julian Alps and the Soca Valley. Driving through Tolmin, we decided to make a stop to visit the Gorge at the southernmost part of Triglav National Park. It was a warm, sunny day so we stopped at a market to get food for a picnic. The park charges an entrance fee but when we visited the ticket booth a jovial Slovenian woman cheerfully told us that it was International Tourism Day and so admission was free for us. We walked along forested paths into a dramatic river gorge with the most impossibly clear blue water we had seen, except for the Caribbean. Then at the confluence of another river, we walked up another dramatic river gorge. At the end, we encountered a family and both parents were wearing CU or Boulder hats/t-shirts. It turns out they work for the U.S. Department of Defense and are currently based in Northern Italy where their kids attend the DOD school. They were taking a two week Holiday in Slovenia, and like many out travelers we encountered, were blown away by the country and felt like they had stumbled upon a hidden gem.
Arriving in Bovec in the Soca Valley, we settled into our Airbnb, a spacious, light-filled, 2nd floor “Sunrise” flat with a huge bedroom, bathroom, and living/kitchen/dining area opening to a large deck with spectacular view of the nearby mountains. It felt very much like being in Telluride –a green valley, ringed by tall mountains with a river running through it. We could not wait to explore. We ventured into town to get maps and information at the tourist office and get dinner to plan the next day’s adventure.
And what an adventure it turned out to be. It started off as a trip up the cute 4-seater cable car at the Kanin Ski Area in Bovec. Beginning at Station A at 1400 ft. and ended up at Station D, at 6700 ft. above sea level. That’s more than traveling from the Town of Telluride to the top of Gold Hill! And the surface at the top was all white rock with huge karst formations. We hiked up another 500 ft. on a steep scree field to Prestreljenisko Okno. I have no idea what the first word means, but the second word means “window” – same in Russian. The “window” is a natural arch, located on the border with Italy offering stunning panoramic views from Northwest to Northeast encompassing the Dolomites in Italy, the Slovenian Alps and probably some mountain ranges in Austria. There were not many other hikers and most of them were Slovenian and all had their dogs with them, somehow holding a leash while also navigating via Ferrata style steel rope holds. We met one English-speaking couple (with their dog) camper vanning it across Slovenia. The wife said she came to Slovenia last year and was blown away so brought the husband this year. She said they had met other Coloradoans in their travels. They reported looking at real estate that morning with the plan of moving from England to the Bovec area before Brexit made the move more difficult. I asked if they could work in Slovenia and they said they would buy a place with an apartment to rent as a means of supporting themselves. It seemed like every house in Bovec has a sign, advertising an apartment for rent. On the way down, a woman in another English speaking group commented on the Telluride logo on Emily’s sweats, saying that she’s from near Telluride. I asked where and she answered “Durango”. The agent where we bought our cable car ticket advised that the hike down the mountain from the top is 6+ hours but that there is a very nice 1 -2 hour hike from Station B, near the bottom. So we took the cable car back down, getting off at Station B. We read that this location was near where Chronicles of Narnia was filmed and winding forest trail accented by large white rock formation with the sun filtered through the trees certainly set the stage for magical creatures to pop out and join us. At one point, the trail appeared to continue down but we saw large red trails indicators pointing to a lateral trail, so we interpreted this as the way to go. After climbing like goats up and over several white rock formations, for over an hour, we commented that these Slovenians certainly knew how to test the mettle of tourists. When we came to an open meadow and read the sign, indicating this as the launch pad for para gliders, we knew we had made the wrong choice at the crossroads. Not wanting to back track on the arduous trail we had just invested over an hour on, we decided to see if we could bushwack down through the woods to meet up with another trail. After about an hour of this, Emily had had enough., so we sat down to eat what meager snacks and water we had, while Mark consulted the TOPO map. It appeared we were directly above the village, Pluzna, on the trail we were supposed to be on. What we did not yet know, but would discover in another 30 min of bushwacking, is that a wide cliff band separated us from Pluzna. We trekked laterally in both directions looking for a milder course and finally found an abandoned paraglider’s trail zigzagging steeply down the mountain. A few more animal trails and we arrived at civilization, signaled but by a few houses on a road, where we saw the most idyllic looking historic barn surrounded by goats, wearing bells, all eager to escape their gate when they saw us. Some of them succeeded in squeezing through but the sign on the barn indicated that the area was under video surveillance and sure enough, after 5 minutes, a couple teenage boys on motor scooters rode up the road to corral the runaway goats. Finally reaching the lowest part of the original trail, below Pluzna, we entered another completely magical forest path, complete with the sound of meandering brooks and birdsong. Around a bend, we came to a structure we think is a church because of the bell tower, but was a small, picturesque, modern building rather than the historic stone structure one would expect. And the setting was completely unexpected –on a walking path near nothing. This was about the 20th time that day I suggested that in addition to the current Slovenia tourism branding of “Slovenia: Feel the Love”, it could add another slogan: “Slovenia – Full of Surprises”. After starting out at 8:30 that morning, we finally arrived home at 5:30, tired and hungry.
Our disappointing meal of the night before consisting of raw shrimp and bland undercooked pasta had me scanning trip advisor reviews and suggesting we drive 2 minutes to explore Kobarid, the gastronomic center of the Soca Valley. In 2017, Ana Ros was named top female chef in the world and was recently featured on the show Chef’s Table. 
Her restaurant, Hisa Franko, is on lots of “Top 10” and “Best of” Lists. It shows up as #1 in Kobarid so we decided to go to #2: Hisa Polanka. A tavern-like historic blue building set right on the road, with four cozy rooms, it felt very warm and welcoming, with animated local kayak/rafting guides settle off the front door, in the main room, drinking large glasses of the restaurant’s home made craft beer. Naturally, we ordered beer, a Pilsner and an IPA (all the beer in Slovenia has been very tasty) and it was delicious. Emily ordered a powdered drink that the waiter explained is very popular in Slovenia. From what we could gather, it’s like a Slovenian Emergen-C. We ordered two salads, which were both great, followed by a deer goulash, a burger and mushroom ravioli. We have come to Slovenia during mushroom season and, lucky for us, Porcini mushrooms are abundant on every menu!
The next day we wanted to rent bikes to explore the surrounding villages, but after discussing with the agent at the tourist office, it became clear that all the best paths (like along the Soca River) were for foot passengers only and that bikes were relegated to sharing the skinny roads with the fast moving cars. We opted to drive to Pluzna and walk to the nearby waterfall, something we had missed the day before, due to taking the wrong path. While Emily and I waited in the main square for Mark to retrieve the car, she disclosed, with tears in her eyes, that she didn’t feel she was getting much out of this trip. She said she didn’t feel like she was accomplishing anything. And she missed her friends. After the fast pace of our travel and the exhausting previous day, I think we all were a bit worn out. Plus she was getting over a cold. Nevertheless, when I inquired deeper, she had a point. While we were in a foreign country, and were around different cultures and languages, WE were not doing anything drastically different from what we could do at home, just in a different place: seeing beautiful places, learning some history and interesting facts, doing lots of biking, hiking and walking, and eating good meals. As to missing her friends, this was a concern we discussed before we left. Each time we discussed it and offered options for cutting our trip short (or not going at all) Emily insisted she wanted to travel. But at Day 21 of our journey, it was time to re-assess and perhaps make changes where we could.
We talked about it as we visited a few more sites by car, getting out for short walks that seemed to be all we could muster, after exhausting ourselves the previous day. I also lay awake that night thinking about whether we should hire a tutor, or teacher or educational consultant to help us flesh out the trip in a way that might give Emily the feeling that she was accomplishing something. Or perhaps she should be enrolled in an on-line course, but how to accomplish that with our fast paced itinerary? We would be slowing down soon, but it still wasn’t realistic to combine what we had planned with logging in 4 – 6 hours of on-line schooling per day. It also didn’t address the piece about missing friends. Other than seeing Caden and Cammie in Annecy, and encountering groups of kids her age on field trips at some of the sites we visited, Emily has had no contact with her peers, other than texting friends back home. So I started to think more seriously about either returning home early or researching a school abroad that Emily could join. She was scheduled to shadow at Escola Global in Mallorca in a couple weeks and that would give us more insights and information. I also thought about returning to Annecy and finding a school in a town we all enjoyed, given Emily’s newfound desire to learn French and the odd fact that there are animation studios located there – perhaps she could take classes or be an intern. I knew this topic would remain on my mind as we continued our journey.
To top off our last day in Bovec, we enjoyed a late afternoon meal in a local restaurant with unexpectedly good soups including Jota (a traditional Slovenian soup of sauerkraut, beans and smoked ham or bacon) and a mushroom soup. We took a risk ordered the tenderloin filet with mushroom sauce (remembering the dried up pieces of meat Mark got in Venice) but it was really tasty and cooked to perfection. So were the homemade gnocchi with mushrooms. We cannot get enough porcinis!
Upon departure, we had our first truly unpleasant Airbnb experience when a gruff man came to our door demanding that we leave. It was 10am and he was there to clean, but our Airbnb itinerary stated an 11am checked. I showed him this on my phone. When he left in grumbling, I called the owner, but she did not answer. The man came back in 10 minutes, pounding on the door and pushing a phone in my face with the owner on the line. Her first words to me were “you must leave now”. I explained what was noted on Airbnb and told her I had tried to call her, to which she replied: “I have a job too”. I told her that Mark had the car and was out getting coffee and we would leave as soon as he was back. She hung up.
Before driving up over the pass, we stopped at Mercator. I mention this because in Italy, the outdoor farmers markets are stocked with agribusiness food and in Slovenia we did not find any farmers markets in the town we have stayed in. My guess is that most people in these rural towns have their own gardens. Yet the supermarkets are super busy with long lines of locals at checkout. The fruits and vegetables do not appear to be local and most are old. This Mercator was no exception and it was packed on a Sunday morning. We waited to get a slice of pizza in the deli case, while watching the one girl working the counter slowly stretching the pizza dough for a pizza ordered by the guys in front of us. And then a huge line formed behind us. The girl who came to help out took the last person in line first, meaning we were last. We then waited another 20 minutes in the check out line. Perhaps the Slovenians are holding onto Communist era rituals of standing in line for bad food?
